About Chicago Tax Ledger

Why

The goal is a clear household picture of federal, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago, and special-district taxes — what you remitted, what was passed on, and what employers pay.

How

The site starts from wages and spending, then prices the taxes in this model: income tax (federal and Illinois), payroll, sales tax (10.50% base on general merchandise from 1 Aug 2026, plus restaurant, soft-drink, and liquor add-ons; lower on groceries and drugs), property (including the share in rent), stickers, fuel, parking, rideshare, utilities, and the rest. Cook County is counted with Chicago for a city resident.

Tax you pay is what you can see: withholding, the receipt, the sticker, the pump, the ticket. Passed on is hidden in what you pay: built into rent and prices. Employer pays is the employer’s share of Social Security and Medicare, plus federal and Illinois unemployment taxes. It isn’t taken from the paycheck. Policy cost vs Indiana is extra from Illinois/Chicago utility and fuel base rates and infrastructure costs versus a neighbor state.

Each tax has dated rates. The Timeline shows what you pay now versus 2011. Federal brackets stay on 2026 TCJA/OBBBA law; the standard deduction is dated, so most standard-deduction filers show a federal cut versus 2011.

Coming is law that is not in force yet (for example Illinois taxes that start 1 Jan 2027). Proposed is not a bill. Neither changes this year's household total.

The photo next to a tax is the officeholder when that rate last moved — mayor for city, governor for Illinois, president for federal, Cook Board president for county — not a claim they personally wrote the ordinance, and not a campaign ad.

City tax take vs private jobs

City collections rose much faster than the metro private payroll. Indexed to 2016, Chicago's tax take is about 55% higher in 2025; metro private jobs are about 4% higher. Dollars of city tax per private job went from $1,206 to about $1,804.

Index 2016 = 100. City tax collections (ACFR Table 3, total taxes) versus BLS CES metro private jobs (Chicago–Naperville–Elgin, not city-only). 2022 taxes interpolated.

Sources

IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, IDOR, the Civic Federation 2026 consumer tax report, and the City of Chicago FY2026 revenue ordinance. Citations on each line point at the code (for example MCC 4-156, 35 ILCS 5, IRC §1). External sites (statutes, Grokipedia, office pages) are not ours.

Officeholder photos on the Who pages and on the name plates showing who signed or passed each tax are from Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain / Creative Commons). Each officeholder’s page credits its photo, and the full list is below.

Limits

Several major federal and local pieces are missing or approximated. Your real liability can be higher or lower.

• Why the numbers are rough: real households have records, edge cases, and overlapping federal, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago, and special-district rules. A precise figure needs a complete return and the underlying records.
• The model is incomplete. Not calculated means the tax is listed in the catalog but not computed here. Calculated lines that do not apply to this household show as unused (—), not as amounts we zeroed. Autofill is a rough sketch, not a complete household profile.
• Guesses vs filing. Passed-through costs and the Indiana price-gap comparison are economic illustrations under this model's assumptions — not a legal filing position and not advice to move or restructure.
• Rates go stale. There is no warranty — use at your own risk and verify current rates from official sources before acting.

Privacy

There is no account and nothing to sign up for. What you type into the household form goes to our server only to work out the figures on your screen. It is not saved and is never sent to analytics. Do not enter Social Security numbers, bank details or other sensitive information; the site does not need them.

Analytics, only if you say OK

If you choose OK on the analytics bar, the site records the following, to see which pages help and to fix problems:

• the page you open, its title, and how long it stays open;
• the links you click (the link's address and words);
• a random ID for your browser and one for this visit, so repeat visits can be counted.

The two IDs are kept in your browser's storage, not in cookies, and are not tied to your name. The records do not include your IP address, your name, your email or anything you type. They are sent to Microsoft Azure Application Insights, which stores them for us.

If you choose No thanks, or make no choice, the analytics code is not loaded and nothing is recorded. This browser remembers your choice.

Change your analytics choice

Like most websites, our server also keeps basic technical records of requests (which page, when, the browser type and any errors) to keep the site working. These do not include your IP address or what you type.